In the past, the majority of high school science labs were of the "cookbook" variety.
In these labs, the teacher provided the students with the purpose, list of materials
and procedure along with all the required materials. The students simply followed a set
of explicit instructions to
carry out laboratory experiments and to make their observations. The observations
were often recorded on a table prepared by the teacher. The only independent
thinking occurred when the student had to write out the discussion or an explanation of the results.
These "cookbook" labs did not did not demand much in the line of scientific thought. Indeed,
a chimpanzee could be trained to carry out most "cookbook" science labs.
In contrast, inquiry labs usually begin with a general topic to be investigated. This
general topic is usually provided by the teacher to meet the curriculum expectations of the particular course
and unit of study. Some examples of inquiry labs include:
Investigate the solubility of polar/non-polar solutes in polar/non-polar solvents.
Investigate the effect of surface roughness (coefficient of friction) on acceleration.
Investigate the factors which affect seed germination.
After conducting background research on the topic, the students must then decide upon the
specific experiment which they will conduct to address the
general topic. Their planning must include the determination of the independent variable, dependent (or measured) variable
and variables to be held constant during the experiment.
The students must formulate a hypothesis statement, write out (and obtain) a list of required materials,
decide upon the method, including the number of trials to be completed. Careful student
planners will consider the possible random and systemic errors likely to occur during the lab and
take precautions in the planning process to minimize these errors.
Students must also plan their data collection and recording system before carrying out the experiment. Although the teacher
has a responsibility to ensure the planned labs can be completed safely, the teacher must adopt
a "hands-off" during the students' inquiry lab planning process. The teacher should not contribute to or interfere with the planning process. If the students design a flawed
experimental procedure, they will learn from their mistakes, revise their plans and repeat
the experiment.
When a class is conducting an inquiry, every lab group (of 3 - 5 students) is conducting a
unique experiment in terms of the methodology, materials used and research problem being investigated.
In carrying out inquiry labs, students closely emulate the work of real research scientists.
Churchill students are first introduced to the this process in their grade 9
science classes. Inquiry labs are carried out by our science students in all science classes,
and at all grades and levels. (applied, academic and IB). The Churchill Science Department is a leader, both provincially and nationally, in this
department-wide implementation of the design and perform process.
